OUR VIEW: SunRail may finally pay off for DeBary

Wednesday

Nov 1, 2017 at 2:01 AM

The promise is enticing.

SunRail’s primary mission is of course transportation, but it also always has been viewed as a catalyst for economic development. While several communities along its route through Seminole and Orange counties have jumped aboard the growth express, DeBary has been left waiting at the station.

The DeBary City Council last month unanimously approved a development agreement for a 289-unit, multi-family apartment complex to be built across from the SunRail station on U.S. 17-92. Called Integra 289 Exchange, the development, which is still in its conceptual stage, also envisions future retail, restaurants, senior housing, and some additional residential units.

(READ: DeBary gives green light to SunRail-area apartments)

That represents the first major progress on developing the area surrounding the station, SunRail’s northern terminus, since service began in May 2014. Since then, several stations to the south have seen a boom in building — townhomes, luxury apartments, offices and retail. More than $3 billion worth of projects have been completed, are underway or have been announced within a 10-minute walk from stations in Seminole and Orange counties. The Florida Department of Transportation estimates those developments ultimately will generate more than 32,000 jobs.

DeBary was supposed to join in the fun. In 2011, SunRail released concept art and a vision for each of its proposed stations. For DeBary it conceived a “limited amount of mixed-use in the immediate station area; offices and retail to the south; and multi-family residential to both the north and south that transitions to single family residential furthest from the station.” Instead, much of the area remains pastural.

The one opportunity in the vicinity that did present itself — a proposed horse track and card room on a 67-acre property at the corner of Dirksen Drive and U.S. 17-92 — was repeatedly rejected by the City Council in controversial votes. Elected officials preferred to pursue the model that SunRail stations in nearby Lake Mary and Longwood and elsewhere were using. Integra 289 Exchange looks like it’s worth the wait.

As usual with these projects, the developers are receiving taxpayer assistance. The City Council in October approved an incentive package worth $180,000, which The News-Journal’s Katie Kustura reports consists of a credit of $93,000 in park-impact fees, a waiver of $30,000 in builder-permit fees and, after a certificate of occupancy, a cash contribution of $57,000.

That’s how the economic development game is played, and in DeBary’s case the investment makes sense. The area surrounding the SunRail station is primed for growth, with plenty of available land and the infrastructure already in place. It has just been waiting for the right project to come along. Integra 289 Exchange fits that bill to a T. Not only will it benefit SunRail, and vice versa, but it will complement the nearby Spring-to-Spring Trail and Gemini Springs Park.